Wengers home boys can get Arsenal out of their hole

24Dec 2012

Premier League

Romilly Evans looks at Arsene Wenger's new strategy to back young British talent in his bid to rekindle success...

"French people sit outside brasseries, chomp onions and go: hoh-hee-hoh-hee-hoh. That's a fact." While you might expect xenophobic triumphalism from Norwich's finest broadcaster, Alan Partridge, you would never imagine such small-minded prejudice from a man as cultured and intelligent as Arsene Wenger.

Yet it's worth remembering that the wisdom of Le Professeur saw fit the fuel cross-Channel rivalries on Valentine's Day of 2005 when he selected the first all-foreign squad for a Premier League game. Sixteen Highbury "éstrangers", six of whom were French. It was certainly no love letter to the British system, perhaps penned on the lazy assumption that honest graft and physicality were no match for the flair of a Francophile production line.

How times have changed at Arsenal. For the past week has seen Wenger reject the stereotype and favour the best of British in a beefed-up round of contract talks. Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs, Carl Jenkinson and Aaron Ramsey are all now sitting around the negotiation table, marvelling at the current strength of the Pound against the Euro.

Not only is Wenger going native but he is also prioritising beauty before age, admitting that he "is keen to create a strong core of young players who want to achieve together. If that core is a local, it is of course even better, because it gives the club more guarantee of stability." Racism, ageism... next he'll be telling us that he wants to select an all-male team and then we can add sexism to his rap sheet.

Of the sextet, only Walcott has really kicked up a fuss about contract renewal. However, conversations have recently been resumed with more modest salary offers tabled (a reported £80,000 as opposed to £100,000-a-week) alongside the striker's steadfast demand to be classified as a "centre-forward" in the paperwork.

In a nod to acceptance, Wenger again gave Walcott his head in this central role against Wigan on Saturday. And while the 23-year-old didn't get his name on the score-sheet, he did win the penalty which earned Arsenal a drab 1-0 victory (ironically coming in from the right wing, a position from which he's trying to distance himself).

Walcott's overall contribution this year only improves his credentials - no Gunner has netted more times or provided more assists in all competitions. But Wenger's overall contributor in the years to come will surely be Wilshere, whose return from injury has fired the engine room of their North London midfield.

Lock these two lynchpins in place for the long-term and Arsenal's other four home-grown talents will swiftly sign on the dotted line. And with the highly-touted Luke Shaw - another towering teenage talent from Southampton's youth factory - also on Wenger's shopping list for the New Year sales, this trend to buy British could endure at the Emirates.

Cynics may counter that the wily Wenger is simply buying himself time with a strategy which will placate both coaches and fans alike. But while it's true that he been burned in the past by his naïve belief that key foreigners would stay (choose from Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy and Alex Song), it's hard to disagree with his assertion that "talent still comes first." It just so happens that his flair players no longer hail from abroad.

In football, though, the future is always now. And three straight wins cannot mask the fact that Wenger has already conceded another year of top-flight title disinterest. Nevertheless, the team of tomorrow is forged by its battles today and his young lions still have much to fight for. A fourth-placed finish is a must (and they still look worthy favourites to claim it at 1.84 to back for the Top Four), while it will be interesting to see how they fare in Europe if the Champions League draw is kind.

Whatever the immediate result, though, it seems Wenger's native in-group thinking is out. Britain and France are also a little closer together as a result. And that can only be a good thing. No matter what Alan says.